Summer, We Got This!

We are jumping into our first week of summer. Memorial Day Weekend brought a lot of fun family time despite the rainy forecast. 

Our house is a full blown construction site now with the renovation. I have just succumbed to the fact that I will have no order for the next two months. I know it will all be worth the chaos in the end!

With all the work on the house, the kids and I are staying out as much as possible. We ventured to the zoo with friends yesterday and $1 movies today. I am loving the time with all three babies especially this week with a more flexible schedule and no sports or camps. I know this summer will be full of so many memories!

May Madness

We are literally filling every waking hour with class parties, awards, sports, and end of year fun/stress. Here is a quick snapshot of all our events.

We started last weekend with our annual participation in the Brookhaven Bolt. Maggie and Tuttle both ran the 5K while Daddy and I pushed Jacob in the stroller. Both kids ran and finished with impressive times, including Maggie beating Tuttle by about two minutes with a time of 39:24!

Tuttle kept the energy going on the field for his final soccer game of the season. He made his best play with an attempted goal shot that was recovered by a teammate for a score! 

We left from the soccer game to meet Aunt Peach, Uncle Drew, and the girls at the Renaissance Festival. Gram purchased tickets for Tuttle's birthday. I knew he would love it since he enjoyed Medieval Times so much. When we left I asked Tuttle on a scale of 1-10, what would he rate the experience. He asked if he could go above 10. His favorite part was the heckler that made fun of customers as they threw tomatoes at him!

Sunday Maggie and I had a fun girls outing to celebrate my cousin, Emily, at her surprise 40th birthday party.

Monday I celebrated Tuttle at his awards ceremony. Our hardworking boy received the Flying Eagle Award (all A's) and the Accelerated Reader Award (top AR points in 2nd grade). Tuttle always amazes me with his achievements. We are so proud.

Daddy and I attended a kitchen renovation selection meeting later that morning to choose counters, cabinets, hardware, etc. It was a fun but mind boggling experience. The kitchen reno starts in early July!

Tuesday was a total whirlwind starting with Maggie's award ceremony. The sweet kindergarten classes began with a few songs to celebrate the year, including one song totally in German. I cannot believe the year is already over. I literally just blinked!

The rest of Maggie's day included a bouncy slide, a petting zoo, pony rides, and a Kona Ice truck. I left from the elementary school to head to Jacob's school for his end of year party that I organized. The babies all seemed to love the summery spread, especially the sunbathing bear pudding cups!

Jacob has grown into a little boy this year at OPP. Where did my baby go?

The fun continued yesterday with class parties at Ashford Park. The kindergarten classes signed pillowcases and ate a fun snack while the 2nd grade classes took over the gym with bounce houses, a pizza party, a cotton candy machine, and music. Jacob ran right in and did not look back. All of Tuttle's friends looked after him as he dove into the action.

After school while Tuttle attended a developmental soccer clinic and Jacob stayed with a babysitter, Maggie and I went to her gymnastics showcase. She has matured as a gymnast so much this year. She was eager to show off on the floor, bars, beam, and vault. She proudly wore her medal to school today to show her friends. Gymnastics will really pick up in June with the start of pre-team. 

And because we were not busy enough, our renovation started yesterday with the electrical work. Luckily I remembered to take a ton of "before" pictures on Tuesday right after the maids left because our house will look a lot like this picture for the unforeseeable future!

Tuttle and Maggie are at school for their last day now, and we are all looking forward to lazy mornings and summer fun starting TOMORROW!

Parent Getaway

Jay and I were able to sneak away for THREE nights while Gram held down the fort at home. This was such a treat, especially on Mother's Day Weekend! Jay's friend was getting married in the Highlands, so we made a mini-vacation out of it. 

Neither Jay nor I had visited the Highlands before this trip, so we were eager to see what everyone seemed to love about this spot in the mountains. We rented the cutest Airbnb on the outskirts of the downtown area. We spent most of the time relaxing and sleeping (a lot!) in our little house. I may have also killed Jay in a game of Scrabble. :)

Our first night we got dressed up and went out to dinner at a yummy Italian spot that had been recommended by several friends. I was sold when I saw lobster ravioli on the menu!

We attended the wedding at a Highlands Country Club on Saturday evening. The weather could not have been more perfect! Every detail was absolutely stunning. The band was especially fun, and I look for any excuse to show off Jay's dance moves in public. He makes me look like I know what I am doing!

The rest of our weekend was filled with a little shopping downtown, a few meals where we could actually enjoy the food instead of hurrying to avoid a kid disaster, and attempting to find a good hiking spot.

A huge THANK YOU to Gram for surviving the weekend with all three crazies. We are planning to move into Gram and Grumps' house for part of the summer during our renovation, and Gram is still agreeing to this arrangement after the weekend, so I call it a success! :)

Field Day and Family Fun

May always seems to sneak up on us and is jam packed with activity as we head toward the school finish line. Friday started out all the craziness with Field Day at the elementary school. Jacob and I went for the morning to cheer on Tuttle and Maggie in their events. 

The younger grades had their ribbon events in the morning, so Maggie competed in the three-legged race and the tug-of-war with her class. Although she pulled with all her might, the other GI class was just a little stronger. I did not think Maggie would care, but she got upset over the loss. Luckily a Lunchable and the promise of an air-conditioned classroom quickly made her forget.

Tuttle's class was all over the place participating in different team events like soccer and handball, so I did not get to watch him in his individual events before Jacob's nap. He was thrilled to let me know that his class won the 2nd grade tug-of-war trophy!

Our sweet friends invited us over after school for a pool party. All three kids loved it, and Maggie got even more confident in the water swimming with all the little sisters. Jacob was occupied with all the snacks. :)

After another intense soccer game on Saturday morning, we drove to Madison to celebrate Granddaddy's birthday. We spent most of our time outside because the weather was GORGEOUS. To the point that we had to peel ourselves off the front porch last Sunday afternoon to return to real life. I could not get enough of watching all the cousins run around the backyard. There is nothing better than a naked baby in the country!

I could not resist snapping a few spring pictures. 

We loved celebrating Granddaddy and spending time with family. Everyone feels recharged to tackle another week of school and work!

Rubber Ducky

You're the one....

   You make bath time lots of fun!